Velocity and Validation of Opioid Tapers Matter

In this video Dr Anna Lembke discusses the importance of the velocity of tapering off opioids; don’t go too fast, don’t go backwards, it’s okay to take breaks, and let the patient determine the pace.

About "How to Taper Patients Off of Chronic Opioid Therapy":
Doctors may be equipped to prescribe for chronic pain but they are often not given enough opportunities to consider real-time strategies for creating healthy, productive conversations and plans to fight opioid addiction. Dr Anna Lembke’s short course, "How to Taper Patients Off of Chronic Opioid Therapy" seeks to remedy this. In a series of short videos, we demonstrate methods for having difficult conversations with opioid dependent/addicted patients, managing the tapering process off opioids, and we explore non-medication alternative therapies such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.

Note: viewing this videos does not qualify you for CME credit. To take the CME course for credit, visit: https://med.stanford.edu/cme/courses/online/opioid-taper.html

Copyright Stanford CME 2018